Reading Reflections April 19- Contemporary(ish) Novels

Every now and then, I come across a book that piques my interest because of its setting in today's society. When I heard about Rosey Storey's debut novel Dandelion Is Dead set in present-day London, I was intrigued. It's not every day you read about a woman impersonating her dead sister on a dating app. I expected social commentary on modern dating and how it relates to singles in their late-thirties. What I got, however, was a contemporary mess.

Thirty-six-year-old Poppy Greene is grieving the sudden death of her thirty-nine-year-old sister Dandelion. She finds Dandelion's phone and decides to swipe on her Hinge profile, despite her relationship with Sam, her boyfriend of five years. She poses as Dandelion for a date with a divorcee, claiming that it doesn't affect her relationship with Sam because she's not presenting herself as Poppy–her true self.

For the rest of the story, Poppy rationalizes her spur-of-the-moment decisions and hotheaded, emotional reactions as a form of grief. The narrative depicts forty-year-olds acting like they're in their early twenties and incorporates convenient plot devices to justify weak character motivations. Blatant immaturity on its own is bad enough. What really grinds my gears is how the story had so much potential for thematic resonance, but didn't use it. The folly of dating apps. Coparenting after divorce. Age gap relationships. Dating with a child. Ending a long-term relationship. Dandelion Is Dead scratches the surface of all of them, but doesn't dive into any of them.

The better contemporary(ish) novel that I finished recently was Tayari Jones's An American Marriage. Set around the turn of the 21st century, the novel centers around the upending of Roy and Celestial's new life as a married couple when Roy is incarcerated for a crime he didn't commit. They keep their marriage alive through letters from prison. During this time, Celestial finds comfort in her childhood friend Andre, who is also Roy's college friend. This quickly blossoms into love. She professes via writing that although she still loves Roy, she can no longer be his wife. But she does not legally file for divorce. When Roy is released seven years earlier than expected after discovered judicial corruption, the relationship between the characters quickly unravels. The result is a brilliantly crafted tale that delves into the dynamics of modern marriage and love, especially in the American context of mass incarcerations.

Like Poppy Greene, Celestial at times makes quick, emotionally-charged decisions. But unlike Poppy's, Celestial's decisions are strongly motivated and weaved into the fabric of her character. Poppy presents her motivations as secret, long-held beliefs that are finally brought to light by rapid changes in circumstances. Taking a break with her boyfriend of five years, then proposing to him, then leaving him for good–they're all supposedly revelations from her newfound grief. Celestial, however, establishes patterns that later explain her decisions, such as preserving a specific treasure of Roy's while allowing Andre to stay in her marital home during Roy's incarceration. Her flipping back and forth between Roy and Andre isn't arbitrary–it's exactly how her character should react based on how she's written.

Storey merely tells her characters' motivations, Jones shows them. Though An American Marriage isn't exactly set in modern times, its themes make it more contemporary than Dandelion Is Dead. Perhaps it's not the setting, but how well the themes hold up over time that determines a novel's modern relevance.

For anyone looking to understand human behavior instead of simply reading a novel to pass the time, An American Marriage is out there waiting.